Greatest Fear
by dragonprincess1988
Summary: Dick and Tim spend the day together, but all is not what it seems.


Dick was waiting at the foot of the stairs for Tim. He knew the previous night had been a rough one for the kid, and Dick wanted to make sure Tim was alright after dealing with Scarecrow for hours on end the previous night. Bruce had said that Tim had showed no signs of being gassed by fear toxins, but Dick wasn't willing to take any chances. He stared wide-eyed as he watched Tim walk down the steps smiling broadly. Dick hadn't seen Tim smile a real smile--one that wasn't forced--in such a long time, and he wasn't sure how to feel about seeing it now. As far as Dick knew, there was no reason for Tim to be smiling and happy, especially not with the way Bruce had described the previous night.

Tim got down to the fifth step from the bottom of the stairs and jumped. He landed next to Dick with an even wider grin than before. "Good morning. How are you?" He was quite chipper, even for Dick's standards.

Dick involuntarily took a step away from him. "Fine, you?"

Tim moved closer, and wrapped an arm around Dick. "I'm great. Hey, let's go out, and do something today. I feel like being out, and about. I don't want to be stuck in the manor all day."

Dick pulled Tim's arm off from around him. "Um, are you sick or something? Lately, in order to get you to go out, I've had to practically drag you with me."

Tim laughed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be? Is it so wrong that I want to spend some quality time with you? Oh, man, we should go see a movie or something. We haven't done that in forever. Dude, I'm starving. Race you to the kitchen."

Tim took off running, and Dick just stood there staring in disbelief. He wondered who that was he had just seen, and where the real Tim was. Dick slowly walked toward the kitchen. When Dick entered the kitchen he found Tim standing in front of the stove making chocolate chip pancakes while humming the good morning song from Singing in the Rain to himself.

Dick continued to stare for a moment, trying to figure out what was with happy-go-lucky Timmy. "Okay…what did you do?"

Tim turned in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Dick glared. "You know very well what I mean. What did you do? You are never this chipper, and the only time you are happy is after you've done something horrible. So, come on, out with it. It had to be something really terrible for you to be this cheerful. Wait don't tell me. You put that weird cement stuff you were working on in the bat suit so Bruce won't be able to take it off."

Tim turned back to the stove, and started flipping the pancakes. "Why would I do that? That would just be cruel. I don't do cruel."

Dick's jaw dropped slightly. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with Tim? I want to know right now."

Tim looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. "Dick, are you feeling alright?"

Dick pointed a finger at himself. "Me? I'm fine. It's you I'm worried about. You aren't acting like yourself, and it's creeping me out."

Tim shrugged with one shoulder while he moved the pancakes onto a plate. "Dick, I think you need to lie down or something. I'm fine. Never felt better in fact. You worry too much. Stop acting so serious all the time."

Dick's eyes grew wide. "Whoa, hold up, you…Mr. Just-like-the-Bat crotchety pants, are telling me to stop acting so serious? What is wrong with this picture?"

Tim placed two plates on the table. "Jeezz, Dick, take five. Chill. It's cool."

Dick folded his arms in front of his chest. "I will chill when you stop smiling and laughing so much. It's creepy! I actually thought I missed it before, but now I see it's just wrong. I like it when you are brooding just like the Bat. That Tim--I like that Tim, I can handle him. This," he gestured wildly at Tim, "This I can't take."

Tim sat down, and started eating his pancakes. "What are you talking about? I'm fine. You're the one going all crazy on me."

Dick sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the table. "Riiiight, I'm the one going crazy, uh huh." Dick had every intention of dragging Tim down to the cave, and running every test he could think of on him.

The two of them ate in silence while Dick thought about the best way to get Tim into the cave. He couldn't help but think that if Tim had been acting the way he was now last night, then it was a no brainer to why Bruce's night was so bad.

Tim stood up, walked over to the sink, and started washing both of their dishes. "So, since you clearly don't want to go to a movie with me, maybe we could go play some soccer, or football, or something. I'm bored out of my mind."

Dick sighed. "Yeah, we could do that."

The two of them headed outside, and spent the afternoon playing soccer. They didn't come back in until it was too dark for them to see the ball. When they walked in the two of them were covered from head to toe in mud and grass stains. Both of them were smiling, and Tim had his arm around Dick. "We've got to do that more often."

Dick leaned over, and mussed Tim's hair. "Yeah, we should."

The two walked away to go get cleaned up while Bruce and Alfred just stared at them. Alfred was the first to speak. "It's been a long time since I've seen the two of them so happy, and free."

Bruce started to walk away. "There's something wrong with the two of them. Let me know if you see anything else out of the ordinary."

Alfred sighed, and went back to dusting.

Dick and Tim were sitting in the den smiling to themselves as they silently watched TV after they had gotten cleaned up. "Hey, Dick, what are you doing tomorrow?"

Dick shifted to look at Tim. "Um…nothing, why?"

Tim shrugged. "I was thinking we could hang out again."

Dick grinned even more. "Yeah, we could do that."

The two of them went back to watching TV, both smiling a little brighter. Alfred watched from the doorway for a moment. It had been a long time since he had witnessed anything like that. It seemed, as of late, that everyone was so busy dealing with their hectic lives that they had forgotten how to just relax and enjoy themselves. He took a minute to enjoy the moment, and then walked into the room with a tray of sandwiches for them. They ate their sandwiches in content silence.

After a couple of hours, Dick fell asleep on the sofa. When he awoke Tim was gone. He asked Alfred if he had seen him, and was informed that Tim had gone down to the cave after Dick had fallen asleep. He went down to find him, and found the cave pitch black. There wasn't a single light on, and Dick couldn't help but think that this definitely seemed more like Tim. He glanced around, but couldn't see anything. Dick called out Tim's name a few times with no response. "Come on, Timmy. This isn't funny! Where are you?"

There was a flash of multicolor, and then Tim was standing in front of him. "You like it?"

Dick just looked around him for a moment speechless. "What did you do?"

Tim shrugged. "I got bored, you were sleeping, and I thought the places needed a bit of color. So, I put multicolored cellophane over the lights, and now it's pretty."

Dick lowered his head, and began to rub his temples. "Tim…Tim…Tim…he is going to kill you."

Tim laughed. "You all need to lighten up a bit."

Dick just stood there staring at him. "Lighten up a bit? Yeah, that's it. So, what is your grand plan now?"

Tim back-flipped to the weapons he had laid out on the work table already, and threw a Bo staff at Dick. "Now we spar."

Dick caught the staff loosely in his hand. "Tim, I'm still a bit groggy. I just woke up. Give a guy a minute. I'm not exactly with--" There was movement, and before he even knew what was happening he was blocking blows from Tim left and right.

Tim smiled from ear to ear as he began another set of blows. "Come on, Dick. We both know you are better than this."

Dick tightened his grip on his staff, and began to advance on Tim. "Fine, have it your way."

Dick took the offensive stance, and began to back Tim up. Tim was holding his own, but Dick was bigger, and had more brute force. Tim back flipped away to gain some distance, and grabbed nunchucks off the table.

"Interesting choice, given that you know how good at am at using those." Dick smiled mischievously.

Tim thought about that for a second, and then grabbed the sais that were the closest weapon to him. Tim came at Dick with the sharpened metal. Dick blocked, and watched as Tim took chips of wood out of the Bo staff. After a few hits to the staff Dick finally managed to spin one sia out of Tim's hand, and then started for the other one, but Tim dropped to the ground before Dick could do anything. Tim tried to dropkick Dick, which he avoided with a back flip, keeping the Bo staff with him. Tim retrieved his lost sai, and came at Dick with extreme embellishment.

Dick stared at him with a raised eyebrow as he blocked another strike. "What was all of that for?"

Tim shrugged, and spun away from Dick. "It was fun!"

Dick rolled his eyes as they continued. "Right…yeah…sure."

Tim laughed. "Fun…you know it won't kill you or anything."

It was a while before Dick noticed the blood. "Tim," he said sternly.

Tim sighed. "What now, slow poke?"

Dick cracked the Bo staff down hard on the spun sais, demanding his full attention. "You are bleeding."

Tim looked down at his thigh. "Eh, it's not bad. Life goes on."

Dick got the Bo staff between the prongs, and wrenched the sais from Tim's hands letting the staff drop to the ground as well. "You are bleeding. We are checking you out, now." Dick gabbed the back of Tim's shirt, and dragged him over to the table. "Man, I know you felt it when this happened. Why didn't you stop the spar?"

Tim shrugged again. "I was having fun, and it's not like it's that bad. Come on, this is like a paper cut for us."

Dick pulled up the shorts Tim was wearing. "Maybe, but you still need to take care of it. I'm going to run a blood test. You know just to make sure nothing else is wrong."

Tim rolled his eyes. "What? It's a scratch really."

Dick shook his head. "A scratch? I don't think so, but you know, better safe then sorry."

Tim just sat there tapping his fingers against the table impatiently, waiting for Dick to finish bandaging him. When Dick finished, the two of them went upstairs, and Tim laid down on the sofa with his leg up. They started watching TV, and were half way through the show when Dick remembered something. "Dude, we left all of those weapons out. I'll be right back. I'm going to put them away before Alfred kills us." He left Tim to finish watching the show.

Dick was halfway through putting the weapons away when he remembered the blood test. He went over, and checked it out. He nearly fell to the floor when he saw it. He just stared at the results blankly for a moment before grabbing a syringe, and heading back upstairs. When he got to the den, Tim was still on the couch watching TV. "Hey Tim, can I see your arm for a minute. I want to make sure you didn't get any blood on you, or anything."

Tim smiled at him. "Um…sure, Mr. Paranoid."

Dick grabbed Tim's arm, rolled the sleeve of his shirt up, and stabbed him with the needle before Tim even had time to react. "There all better."

Tim tore his arm of Dick's grip. "What the hell was that?"

Dick stepped toward him with his hand held in front of him. "Tim, calm down."

Tim was already off the couch, and backing away from Dick. "Don't tell me to calm down. What the HELL was that?"

Dick took one more step closer, and then stood still hoping Tim would calm down, and see reason. "Timmy, you got gassed by Scarecrow's fear toxin that night. I assumed it was the new type that releases all inhibitions. You know, the one we found a couple of months ago. Anyway, the blood test proved it. That was the antidote. I swear."

Tim glared at him. "You're lying. I feel fine. There's nothing wrong with me. Stay the hell away from me."

Dick was prepared for this. "Tim, I'm sorry, but you should really sit down. There was a tranquilizer mixed in with the antidote it should start working..." Dick trailed off as he watched Tim's eyes roll back in his head as Tim collapsed to the floor. Dick sighed as he went over, grabbed Tim, and placed him back on the sofa.

Dick stayed in the den with Tim until he woke up. He knew that coming off the fear toxins could be one of the worst experiences a person could have. Hours passed with little to no activity from Tim. He seemed to be doing well, all things considered. It was sometime in the afternoon the next day when Tim finally woke up.

Dick wasn't sure how he was going to react, and stayed away from him at first. "Hey Timmy, how are you feeling?"

Tim shook his head slightly. "Feel like I got hit by a truck. No, actually I think I would feel better if I got hit by a truck. What do you want?"

Dick took a few steps closer, and when Tim didn't react to it, he went and sat down next to him. "Just wanted to make sure you were doing okay."

Tim stood up, and rolled his shoulders. "I'm fine."

Dick shrugged. "Yup, same old Timmy."

Tim turned to him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Dick breathed a heavy sigh. "Nothing. Hey, do you want to hang out later?"

Tim just stared at him blankly for a minute. "I shouldn't--I have work to do."

Dick got off the couch as well. "Work? What work?"

Tim rolled his eyes. "I have to write up reports. I'm sure Bruce told you about our encounter with Scarecrow last night."

Dick stared at him completely confused for a moment. "Tim, that wasn't last night. That was the night before last night."

Tim raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you talking about?"

Dick placed a hand on Tim's shoulder. "Wait, are you telling me you don't remember anything from yesterday?"

Tim shrugged. "That depends, what happened yesterday?"

"You know, we played soccer… and just hung out. We had a really good time. We sparred, and stuff, and had fun. Well, we had fun up until that whole me giving you the antidote thing." Dick couldn't help but think that maybe Tim was joking.

Tim shook his head. "Whole giving me the antidote thing? What are you talking about?"

Dick's heart sank just a bit. It had truly been one of his best days with Tim--well minus the end of it. "You were gassed the other night by Scarecrow's fear toxin."

Tim tapped his foot impatiently. "What are you getting at?"

Dick was silent for a time, and then began to laugh. "Don't you get it? You're greatest fear is being happy."

Tim stared at him for a moment, and then walked away silently.

The End


End file.
